London has been battered by 50mph winds that have felled trees and caused travel chaos. Powerful gusts swept across the capital as the Met Office issued a yellow "be aware" weather alert for most of the country.

The new owners of Stansted today launched a battle of the skies as they vowed to take passengers from Heathrow and Gatwick after competing the £1.5bn purchase of the Essex airport.

They promised to take the airport, traditionally a stronghold of budget airlines, into the premier league with flights to 40 new long-haul destinations including the US, Caribbean and the Middle East.

Owners Manchester Airport Group (MAG) pledged to double annual passenger numbers 35 million, build new stands for the A380 superjumbos and spend £40m on new shops.

But MAG insisted there were no imminent plans to build another runway at the Essex airport – even though it is being considered by mayor Boris Johnson as a site for a “super-airport” to solve the southeast’s aviation capacity crisis.

Charlie Cornish, chief executive of Manchester Airport Group (MAG) said: “If we get the right level of customer experience and the right product, which is the right airlines flying the right planes at the right price, we will start to move volume around London. Some will always go to Heathrow and Gatwick but if it’s a strong product we hope to take volume not just from the north but the south” Mr Cornish said.

MAG calculates that 50 million people live within two hours’ drive of the Essex airport.

MAG purchased Stansted after Heathrow owner BAA was forced by the regulator to sell up to create more competition in the market.

The acquisition by MAG, which also own East Midlands and Bournemouth, includes a 35 per cent stake for the Industry Funds Management Group.

By 2018 they aim to boost annual passenger numbers by 5.5m to almost 23 million per year. There will be an extra 40 destinations, mainly long-haul flights to the US and the Caribbean and the Gulf. Emirates, Qatar, Etihad, Singapore Airlines, Air France, KLM and Virgin are all set to fly out of Stansted which has been traditionally dominated by budget airlines Ryanair and easyJet.

Mr Cornish was cautious about any moves to expand Stansted which will face bitter opposition from local residents and environmental groups.

He insisted that the business plan was based on making more of the existing capacity and is not reliant on adding runways.

He told the Standard: “We need to engage local communities and the mayor’s office and look at the opportunities. I don’t think it’s an easy case and I don’t think anyone’s come up with a compelling case for any of the four (London) airports.”

The airport’s potential can only be realised by cutting the 45-minute rail journey from central London to less than 30 minutes with new express services and by linking in to Crossrail, due for completion in 2018, MAG says.

Mr Cornish said too much attention was focused on a major new airport and the “real issue” in solving Britain’s shortage of aviation capacity was to invest in better rail links to existing airports thereby reducing reliance on major “hubs”.

He said: “The solution for the UK is how to make better use of regional airports. I recognise in the south east you need more capacity and the next consideration is if you need a four-runway hub. The vast majority of people travel point to point and don’t need a hub necessarily. The issue in the UK is how to connect to growing and mature economies and for that you don’t necessarily need a hub.”

He criticised the “disgraceful” delays in Government aviation policy, with the Davies commission not due to report on the capacity crisis until 2015.

Mr Cornish contrasted it with a second Beijing airport which is due to go from drawing board to completion in four years.

He said: “You compete against countries that have got a long-term policy but in the UK if you are not going to do it for 10 or 20 years then that’s a loss of competitive advantage which is disgraceful really.”

Stansted has been thrust into the forefront of the aviation capacity debate in recent months. Mayor Boris Johnson has promoted the potential for transformation of the single-runway Essex airport into Britain’s premier airport with four runways operating 24 hours a day.

With the mayor bitterly opposed to a third runway at Heathrow, it is considered at City Hall as a feasible alternative to the highly ambitious “Boris Island” in the Thames Estuary.